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ABOVE: “Springfield“, the new single from Anathema’s new 2017 album The Optimist. The jury is still out on whether or not it’s a tribute to the long running animated show, “The Simpsons.”

Remember the golden days of social media? NOT far back as Delphiforums or whatever dial up contraption that they called back in the day in order to chat with your buddies that you’d find on America Online.

I’m alluding to those days of myspace where not only could you make friends with every Playmate or porn star under the jizz stained covers – BUT all the musicians bands would pelt you with free samples of their works that you could download or sample for free.

Believe it or not, I still listen to a good handful of these acts of which FIRST got my attention through myspace including Gazpacho from Norway (of whom I already profiled here), Wolverine & Carptree from Sweden, Oceansize, Ayreon, and a quintet of 4 lads and a lass from Liverpool called Anathema.

After hearing snippets of their 2004 album A National Disaster album, I was hooked. Immediately found an import copy of it over at Amoeba Records and ever since that day, I never had the nerve to trade it in.

Anathema – such a strange name and probably a debate for subject of pronunciation. I first heard it pronounced as ANN – ATH- EMMA, but the current spelling on the promo sticker on their new 2017 K-Scope release suggests that it’s ANA – THEME – A.

BUT yet – dictionary.com INSISTS that it’s uh-nath-uh-muh

I can already tell it’s going to be one of those “I say Sub -Mariner, you say SUBMARINE -ER. ” kind of things.

Dictionary defines the meaning of Anathema as thus:

apersonorthingdetestedorloathed:

apersonorthingaccursedorconsignedtodamnationordestruction.

aformalecclesiasticalcurseinvolvingexcommunication.

anyimprecationofdivinepunishment.

acurse;execration

How could anyone describe their music? I usually tell people who LATELY they sound something like as if Phillip Glass decided to wake up one morning and decided to wax off some ABBA covers (but the band members themselves would probably argue that it Tangerine Dream forced into a shotgun wedding with Talk Talk). But five albums later (and a long hiatus between 2004’s A National Disaster and their first album for K-Scope, We’re Here Because We’re Here in 2010 that had me worried on whether or not they decided to toss in the towel),they kind of throw some other musical type of trail mix such as electronica and folk into the blender, but most usually it isn’t an Anathema record these days without some monumental orchestra accompaniment.

The above video to “Closer” originally presented on 2004’s A Natural Disaster was what sold me to buy a one way ticket aboard the team Anathema bullet train. Recorded live at the ancient Roman theatre of Philippopolis for the live CD/DVD 2013 release, Universal– also available on K-Scope.

One can attest that their surge in popularity (a theory I’m going to put to the test if and when I find out tickets are still available for the New York show in August I plan on flying out to attend) is that the writing between brothers Vincent & Daniel Cavanugh with drummer John Douglas has grown tighter or if its’ the addition of female vocalist Lee Douglas (brother to John) singing on its’ most heartfelt material that EVEN puts that overrated cow Adele to shame. I previously covered the velvety harmonizing and lead singing prowess of Lee in a previous K-scope entry wrote last summer here.

Personally I think their fame is chalked up to the fact that the band is more of a family affair which contributes to their endearing longevity. The band is led by three brothers, Vincent, Daniel, and Jamie and joined by two long time neighboring friends Lee and her brother John. The only outsider who joined the band after the release of their 2012 impeccable release, Weather Systems is keyboardist Daniel Cardoso.

They began life, believe it or not as a GOTH DEATH METAL band – much similar to other bands who have passed by the K-Scope roster that I’ve gravitated towards such as Ulver, Opeth, and Katatonia. (Anathema has toured with the latter two over the past few years) through the first five albums. It was until the release of 2001’s A Fine Day to Exit (which is essential that I need to pick up) that they began to attach themselves to a more alternative direction and referring back to the comparison I made earlier to Phillip Glass is a case of a minimalist approach to their writing. They love to make the music and lyrics as simplistic as they can with easy to memorize motifs that seem to aim towards a bombastic crescendo that can reach levels of euphoria that is rarely achievable in today’s music.

If you don’t believe me, you can ask former lead singer of Yes and now head maestro of ARW (Anderson, Rabin & Wakeman), Jon Anderson who by sheer chance, of wandering around a progressive rock theme cruise ship stumbled across their performance and was instantly flabbergasted that he nearly gobbled up their whatever they had available at their merch table.

And what bigger endorsement do you really need than that?

This year the band released THE OPTIMIST just a mere few weeks ago on June 9th, their first release in three years TO THE VERY DAYthat they released their previous album, DISTANT SATELLITESon June 9th 2014. Distant Satellites was very electronica heavy, this new album is more organic and done in takes with the band in the studio as whole with Mogwai producer Tony Doogan

The concept of the album of which I take the liberty of lifting from Wikipedia goes a little like this: The album reportedly follows the concept of the band’s 2001 release A Fine Day To Exit. According to band members Daniel and Vincent Cavanagh, the idea came from writing a narrative, culminating on what must have happened with the guy from that album cover. Vincent commented that “The guy who disappeared – you never knew what happened to him. Did he start a new life? Did he succumb to his fate? It was never explained. The covers of both albums also show its narrative connections, as the former contains a car in an empty beach during the day, and the latter a car in a road at night.

Like I mentioned before, I’m hoping to see Anathema perform on the east coast – which will give me the perfect excuse to go see my mom out in New Jersey – but I’m just puzzled with all the tour dates they mention in support of the new album, that there no dates announced for the West Coast of the US, (It’s just Europe and the US east coast for now) since the concept of the album is allegedly supposed to take place in SAN FRANCISCO. I’ve seen them live once before at the El Rey Theatre back in 2013, when I just started working at SAG-AFTRA and I just happened to stumble across the theater while I was walking past it during a lunch break. I remember my eyes widening in disbelief reading the marquee – and it was a mid-week show and on a ‘school’ night. I remember that night real well, Anathema was the last out of three bands to perform that night and it was a mostly acoustic performance since all the members couldn’t get the proper visas to perform, but LEE DOUGLAS certainly made men fall to their knees that night with her flawless rendition of the 2004’s title track to A National Disaster (which was definitely a mandatory bic lighter flickering moment). And since they were stripped down to the main three core members of Daniel, Vincent, and Lee, we all didn’t get the full monty of that 2012 Weather Systems (which has since won many numerous European music awards and accolades. So as long as they remain in vogue, I’ll always be on the hunt for the full frontal electric assault of the Anathema concert experience – no matter what part of the globe it may take place on.

Overall, I feel as with previous other Anathema exciting album listening adventures, It’s safe for me to say that The Optimist, so far to ME with lovely Lee Douglas led songs such as “Ghosts” and “Endless Ways“, and Daniel and Vincent working that duo rocking minimalist melodic magic on “Leaving It Behind” Springfield” and “Can’t Let Go” – it’s another year running as the top contender when it comes to year end best lists. If the Optimist turns out to be an actual sequel to A FINE DAY TO EXIT, then it’s the best mystery revealed backwards.

If you’re reading this in Europe, make sure to check out the band in full faithful ferocious fury this weekend July 1 at the Be Prog My Friend Festival taking place in Barcelona, Spain.

Here it is!! The final faceoff of the 2016 – 2017 comic book genre related shows in DVR dog day delays! AND as a special bonus – The list of winners and some streaming data details on Marvel’s Iron Fist performances (it wasn’t as bad as ratings pundits feared! But, in the long haul, it wasn’t great either).

Everything should be easy this time around, since no comic book genre related shows premiered or aired on cable or any streaming platform during the May Sweeps, thereby freeing me to focus on simply the broadcast shows. For some undetectable reason, its hard to track down 2016 – 2017 season averages for shows such as The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and Legion on cable – they seem to be not calculated. Hopefully it won’t come down to pulling a figure out of my ass – but they do report that the 7th season finale of The Walking Dead that aired on April 2nd was the lowest rated finale since Season 2’s finale and that a season as a whole was down about 17% – 5.4 vs, Season 6’s 6.5

Also NOT included in the final round are episodes of DC Comics’ epic fail of situation comedy called “Powerless” which NBC cancelled back in mid April with probably a handful of episodes left unaired. It brought in CW type numbers as well as it does for the Arrowverse shows – but we all know, if you wanna play in the big league network, you got to bring in the big league network. The show itself, in my opinion had really no PANACHE, generic plain uninteresting super heroes pulled out of a lazy staff writer’s ass, and a complete cast of characters that had no chemistry whatsoever, not to mention REALLY FUCKING UNATTRACTIVE to look at (with the exception of perky Vanessa Hudgens).

At this blog entry’s posting time, some of these shows are still finishing up their season finales such as Gotham & Lucifer (I just literally watched the season finale episode of Gotham yesterday on Hulu) & CW’s iZombie- which still has two new episodes left to air. Fox delayed Gotham & Lucifer because they were trying to push a new kinetic energized version of 24 down everyone’s throats which failed to capture the diehard fans of the show who are still lamenting Kiefer Sutherland’s absence (of which fans will swear that he’s still sweating it out to the Russian gulag oldies,). I don’t know what iZombie’s deal is, but they had a similar situation with their first season when they aired their final episodes way into June.

So let’s begin.

Live +3

Top 25 broadcast shows (including ties) in Live +3 adults 18-49 for May 8-14, 2017

You know how this round goes, right? This particular faceoff is the one that makes and breaks show. The entire fate of the universe relays on this round – because this is the add up bringer of balance as when a show airs and a person actually gets to watch either on their DVR or mobile device within a seven-day window. Beyond that, you’re either stuck with watching the last five episodes of any given show with the hope you haven’t missed an episode OR as what Netflix is doing these days with the Arrowverse shows with posting every episode of a season online THE DAY AFTER the season finale has aired. Some people like to binge watch entire seasons on streaming platforms. I’ve gone off the reservation with how I feel about binge watching in a blog post last year, so I’m not going to go all judgmental on people who do this – but they must have tremendous will power to live their lives for nine months of the year TRYING TO BE SPOILER FREE – but in case of the mainstream episodes airing on broadcast, it’s water cooler talk at the office the very next morning. When the topics turn to shows such as The Walking Dead spoilers – THEN it’s time to use the water cooler DOWN the hall. because it’s a show I usually wait to show up on Blu Ray or DVD.

Luckily for me, The Walking Dead Season 7 Finale aired this past April 2nd, making it ineligible for this round.

So it’s just down to broadcast fisticuffs between nine other shows and they were great match ups. Whoever wins the week get a great consolation prize of A SWANSON’s TV CHICKEN DINNER presented by one of our scantily clad score card girl borrowed without kind permission of the cast of Gotham with the exception of future Catwoman Camren Bicondova, because she’s underage to prance around in her catnip Camille lingerie.

Good luck contestants!!

Here are the Live +7 rankings for May 1-7, 2017. The rankings include first-run series and specials only, not repeats.

WINNER, WINNER TV SWANSON’S CHICKEN DINNER GOES TO… iZombie!! 133% is an incredible feat for a 7 Day % Increase nearly increasing its’ normal Same Day audience by more than half and no doubt this episode certainly cemented a 4th season renewal – so it’s deserving of a win.

Here are the Live +7 rankings for May 15-21, 2017. The rankings include first-run series and specials only, not repeats.

WINNER WINNER SWANSON’S TV CHICKEN DINNER is awarded to….iZOMBIE again for topping two of the categories Adults 18-49 & Viewers Percentage gain. Who would’ve guess that iZombie, deep down in his heartless and mindless very low rated Live + SD hide there lurked the little show that could?

And now for this year’s season’s end performances

All figures below are Live +3 ratings for original episodes during the Nielsen-measured TV season from Sept. 19, 2016-May 24, 2017. Episodes of shows that aired outside those dates are excluded, as are summer shows that aired episodes during the season.

All figures below are Live +3 viewer averages for original episodes during the Nielsen-measured TV season from Sept. 19, 2016-May 24, 2017. Episodes of shows that aired outside those dates are excluded, as are summer shows that aired episodes during the season.

All figures below are live plus same-day ratings for original episodes during the Nielsen-measured TV season from Sept. 19, 2016-May 24, 2017. Episodes of shows that aired outside those dates are excluded, as are summer shows that aired episodes during the season.

All figures below are live plus same-day ratings for original episodes during the Nielsen-measured TV season from Sept. 19, 2016-May 24, 2017. Episodes of shows that aired outside those dates are excluded, as are summer shows that aired episodes during the season.

88 Lucifer FOX Viewers (000s) 3,715

98 Gotham FOX Viewers (000s) 3,374

113 The Flash CW Viewers (000s) 2,843

119 Supergirl CW Viewers (000s) 2,363

121 Agents of SHIELD ABC Viewers (000s) 2,337

122 Powerless NBC Viewers (000s) 2,297

134 Legends of Tomorrow CW Viewers (000s) 1,816

135 Arrow CW Viewers (000s) 1,758

140 Riverdale CW Viewers (000s) 1,045

146 iZombie CW Viewers (000s) 911

All figures below are Live +7 adults 18-49 ratings for original episodes during the Nielsen-measured TV season from Sept. 19, 2016-May 24, 2017. Episodes of shows that aired outside those dates are excluded, as are summer shows that aired episodes during the season.

Now if I were to speculate where “Legion” and “The Walking Dead were to fit on this list, Walking Dead would be on the top of this list – LIKE WAY UP TOP and “Legion” would be placed between iZombie & Riverdale. “Legion” has a way to go to be an actual contender – however, Emmy nominations just around the corner and FX is pushing awareness for this show to woo over academy voters.

All figures below are Live +7 viewer averages for original episodes during the Nielsen-measured TV season from Sept. 19, 2016-May 24, 2017. Episodes of shows that aired outside those dates are excluded, as are summer shows that aired episodes during the season.

IRON FIST ratings (portions of this article was cut and pasted from Buzzfeed)

The superhero drama’s March 17 premiere was the most binge-watched this year for a Netflix drama, according to data from research firm 7ParkData, which measures number of streams on subscription video services. The company found that 54.7% of “Iron Fist” streams on the premiere date were of episodes three or higher. The average hour-long show on Netflix has a binge score of 46.9%.

“Iron Fist” also accounted for 14.6% of all Netflix streams on March 17 — the highest percentage of any series premiere that 7Park measured, topping both“Marvel’s Luke Cage” (12.8%) and “Marvel’s Daredevil” Season 2 (13.8%),

7ParkData tracks viewership data for Netflix properties since the streaming service does not release such information. 7ParkData calculates these ratings by looking at a variety of data that includes actual streaming numbers and even social media chatter — but that which is only positive. According to their data on Iron Fist and the rest of the Marvel lineup, the “demand expressions” three days out hit 63,249,549. This is roughly six million below what Luke Cage registered last year, but considerably more than Jessica Jones and Daredevil.

However, it should be noted that while this is still a great launch for Iron Fist, it does mark the first time a new Marvel series failed to outperform its immediate predecessor. Daredevil launched to 23 million expressions, which Jessica Jones topped that with almost 51 million. Jones was then beat by Luke Cage‘s 69 million.

This is where the negative buzz may have factored in, as these 63 million expressions likely came from those who planned to watch regardless of the critical reception. If Iron Fist had earned more positive accolades, then it possibly could’ve surpassed Luke Cage’s performance. I guess we’ll have to wait until August’s premiere Marvel mini-series event, The Defenders to see if that mini-series becomes the top dog.

Next blog – due by the end of June, will focus on Liverpool’s progressive rock rookie troubadours, Anathema.